1. Technical Field
This invention is directed to an improved slidably and pivotally mounted (sliding pivot) tail gate for a pick-up truck, station wagon, van or other motor vehicle incorporating the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pick-up trucks conventionally have a tail gate mounted thereon for pivotal movement about a fixed axis adjacent the floor of the truck box (commonly referred to as the truck bed). When the tail gate is in a closed position it is upright and when driving empty with it in this position it causes a significant amount of air drag. This extra air drag can be reduced, or eliminated, by leaving the tail gate in a horizontal position. While this has the benefit of improving the fuel mileage, thereby reducing travel costs, a rearwardly protruding gate is dangerous.
Pick-up trucks are also commonly converted to recreational travel vehicles by putting on a camper unit and these have a lower portion that fits down into the box. A door at the back of the camper unit extends down to the truck box floor and this requires removing the conventional pivotally mounted tail gate and safely storing it until the camper unit is removed.
The foregoing problems are overcome by having a tailgate storage compartment on the vehicle in which the tail gate can be stowed until required in its upright position to retain cargo in the truck box. One such proposal is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,828 granted Apr. 8, 1986 to C. W. Jones. In this patented device the tail gate is mounted by a pair of sliding pivots whereby the tail gate can be slid into and out of a compartment below the rear end of the truck bed and pivoted from one to the other of a horizontal and a vertical position. It will be noted the track for the sliding pivot is horizontal and thus separate additional locking mechanisms must be employed to keep the tail gate in a retracted storage position. As stated by the patentee xe2x80x9cSuitable locking mechanisms of conventional design maybe utilized to maintain the tailgate panel in each of its three positionsxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,760, granted Nov. 28, 1961 to P. C. Trautmann, discloses a station wagon with a retractable tail gate in which the opposed edges of the tail gate have a groove providing a track for the sliding pivot. There is a sloped floor in a storage compartment on which the tail gates rests in its retracted position. The groove has a stepped portion adjacent one end to allow the tail gate to lower below the floor of the station wagon so that it can then be slid there below into the storage compartment.
Other references uncovered in a search, but of considerably less importance than the above to the present subject, are listed below all of which are United States Patents: U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,511 granted Oct. 10, 1995 to A. Webber; U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,692 granted Jun. 23, 1992 to C. Covillion; U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,991 granted Aug. 28, 1990 to D. Haigler; U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,840 granted Aug. 15, 1989 to D. Hanley; U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,841 granted Mar. 21, 1989 to R. Morton; U.S. Pat. No. 3,004,790 granted Oct. 17, 1961 to H. Mayer; U.S. Pat. No. 2,872,239 granted Feb. 3, 1959 to G. Bowness et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,303 granted Sep. 16, 1958 to R. Hopson.
The present invention defines a vehicle tail gate mounted on sliding pivots within opposing aligned angled channels. The sliding pivots extend from the vehicle tail gate and have the initial entry portion thereof sloping downwardly with the channels in a direction toward the front end of the vehicle. The tail gate has two spaced apart pins (each preferably with a roller thereon) on each of opposite edges thereof and all four slide in the channels with one pair being on the sloping portion of the track thus by gravity biasing the tail gate into its retracted position in a storage compartment provided therefor under a floor of the vehicle.
More particularly, the instant invention is a tailgate and mounting assembly for disposing the tailgate in under the bed of a vehicle of a motorized vehicle. The tail gate includes a rectangular panel having a lower and upper pair longitudinal edges and a first and a second pair of opposite end edges. A first and a second pair of pins are mounted on the tail gate and project outwardly respectively from the first and second edges at a position adjacent the lower longitudinal edge. A third and a fourth pair of pins are mounted on the tailgate at a position spaced from the first pair in a direction toward the upper longitudinal edge. Finally, a pair of spaced apart pair of members mountable on the vehicle and having a pair of spaced apart aligned angled longitudinal channels slidably receive the first and second pair of pins.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a sliding pivot tail gate that is gravity biased to its retracted storage horizontal position in a compartment therefore below a tail end portion of the vehicle.
While the tailgate of the invention is described herein in the preferred environment as being associated with a pick-up truck it is also applicable to station wagons and vans.